Comments on: Old Ass Movies: Know the Horror of ‘I Walked with a Zombie’

By: djjeffhall

djjeffhall — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:43:57 +0000

Adam,
I guess I don't consider them horror since they don't scare me, just make me want to vomit. lol

While I have not seen Meet The Feebles, I have heard it's great, if gross. (My not having seen it is more circumstance than avoidance.)

As I mentioend above I do have films on my favorites list that have more than their fair share of blood. 28 Days Later doesn't exactly hold back, but it also doesn't resort to body parts for the sake of body parts.

Then again, as with any genre, what is accepted changes and grows over time. I guess I'll just have to accept that gross out gore is considered horror. (Though I'm still personally putting it in the stupid comedy category. lol)

By: djjeffhall

djjeffhall — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:43:57 +0000

By: adamcharles

adamcharles — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:12:53 +0000

Gross out gore is still horror. It may not be sophisticated, or that inspired sometimes, but it's still horror. If early Peter Jackson films (which are bloody evisceration cranked up to 11) aren't horror then I don't know what you'd consider them to be.

That being said you're right in that I Walked With A Zombie, and the other Lewton films aside from 7th Victim which I think is more noir, is also horror. I think it's some of the earliest types of horror that we can see inspiring filmmakers like Cronenberg. Cronenberg's SPIDER feels, to me, like the type of film Lewton would have had a hand in today.

By: djjeffhall

djjeffhall — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:15:34 +0000

Dr. Abaius - Val Lewton IS horror. The definition of horro today has changed to bloody evisceration. That is not horror, that is just gross out gore. (Tortore Porn if you will.)

Val Lewton, Hitchcock and the Universal classics define horror.

Which isn't to say that later films didn't fit into the horror genre. Certainly the Count Yorga and Hammer Horror films fit alongside modern films like 28 Days Later that don't have to resort to blood and gore, but still scare the bejeesus out of you.

By: adamcharles

adamcharles — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:09:06 +0000

the Val Lewton set is one of my favorite things. I Walked W/ A Zombie is my 2nd favorite film in the set behind the film it shares disc space with (The Body Snatcher). If you haven't seen the other Val Lewton films you owe it to yourself to do so. Some of the earliest cases of psychological horror in American film, and they all (for the most part) hold up very well.